


Turning Point

by marinettestiki



Category: Henry Danger (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-19 10:29:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22643485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marinettestiki/pseuds/marinettestiki
Summary: A re-interpretation of Cave the Date. / Charlotte's new relationship isn't a pleasant surprise for Henry.
Relationships: Charlotte & Henry Hart, Charlotte/Henry Hart
Comments: 1
Kudos: 69





	Turning Point

“I hope you had a good time tonight,” Jack said softly to me. He put his car into park and turned so that we were facing each other. The smile on my face matched his. I really did enjoy our time together; I always do. The distance between us wasn’t getting any easier to deal with, though. Jack was constantly on the road, either touring or attending Hollywood premieres and parties, while I spent 99% of my time in the Man Cave trying to keep the guys out of trouble. To Jack, it didn’t make much sense as to why I was always at Junk ‘N Stuff during weird hours of the day, or why I never had any free time to join him at a tour date or two. Of course, I would never be able to tell him the truth - that I actually worked to keep Captain Man, Kid Danger, and Swellview safe. 

I’m not your average teenager, but neither is he. “You know I love you,” I finally replied, placing my hand over Jack’s. “I’ll miss you.”

He sighed. “You’re always welcome to join me on tour this summer.”

“I can’t…”

“I know, I know,” Jack cut me off, and a slight bitterness crept into his tone. “Your job at Junk ‘N Stuff is too demanding.”

I bristled, slightly offended at his dismissive tone. I know he could never fathom the full scope of my work, but it still rubs me the wrong way. Luckily for him, he’s gotten very skilled at recognizing when I’m about to get pissed off.

“Look, I don’t wanna fight. We don’t get enough time together for that.” Jack leaned over and kissed me.“I gotta go or else I’ll miss my flight. Call you when I land?”

I kissed him one more time, before getting out of the car and walking to my door. I had learned months ago that it was easier not to look back at him when we were parting. As I unlocked my door, I heard his tires screech as he drove away.

“Charlotte, honey, you’re back!”

I jumped, not expecting my mom to be waiting for me. “Yeah, mom. I had a good time. What’s up?” 

There was a fresh tray of cookies on the counter. “Ooh!” I quickly grabbed one. My mom made the best cookies. “Why’d you make these?”

“Well, evidently you didn’t tell Henry you were meeting up with Jack tonight…” I froze. “He came over to see if you could help him with his history homework. I told him he could wait here for you, and then he asked me about what recipe I use for my cookies, and then-” My mom gestured at the mixing bowl and empty packet of chocolate chips that was by the sink. “The rest is history!” She chuckled.

“Mom…” I pulled my mother closer to me so that I could whisper in her ear. “Henry didn’t know I’m dating Jack!”

My mom gasped. “Why wouldn’t you tell your best friend something like that? I thought you three told each other everything!” She paused, pulling back so that she could look me in the eyes. “Does Jasper not know either?”

“No, no one knows except for you and Dad.” I sagged against the kitchen table. “I just… I don’t know why I never told Henry. Where is he, anyway?”

“He’s in your room waiting for you. I honestly had no idea he didn’t know, Charlotte. I’m sorry!” My mom squeezed my shoulder, looking down at me with sympathy. Ugh, what had I gotten myself into?

“It’s okay, mom. I should’ve told him a long time ago.” I grabbed one last cookie (moral support) before I ran up to my room. The door was wide open. Henry was sitting on the floor next to my bed, his class’ history textbook stretched out over his lap. I took a breath and knocked before I entered.

“Knocking to enter your own room?” Henry turned to smile at me. He shook his head and closed the textbook. “So…”

“So…” I repeated. On the way up the stairs I had decided to let Henry start the conversation. It was best to get an awkward confrontation out of the way as fast as possible.

“You’re dating Jack freaking Swagger!” Henry hopped up and ran over to where I was sitting. I sank back a little, surprised at his enthusiasm. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He paused, a slight frown forming on his face. “I always tell you everything. You know every literal detail of what went down with me and Bianca.” Uh-oh. “You know you can tell me anything, right? We’re best friends.” 

“Hen, of course I know that. I just didn’t tell you because this is serious!”  
Henry blinked, and paused before he replied to what I had said. “Bianca was serious.”

“No, it wasn’t,” I snapped. I instantly regretted it, but he had struck a nerve. “You dated Bianca two years ago when you were 16, was constantly interested in other girls, and didn’t want to be committed. Jack and I are different. I didn’t wanna complicate what we had by involving other people. I mean, it’s already hard enough! He’s a superstar, and I work for an indestructible manchild.” I threw my hands up in the air. Sometime during my rant, I had started pacing the floor of my room.

Henry had sat down on my bed, his foot tapping incessantly. “I loved Bianca. Just because I made some stupid mistakes doesn’t mean it wasn’t serious. And really, your excuse is - is-”

“What?” I exclaimed. “Hmm, what is my excuse?” Part of me knew my friend so well, I already had an inkling as to what he was going to say.

“Stupid!” Yup, there it is. “Your excuse is stupid, Char. I would never keep a months long relationship secret from you.”

“Henry, come on, I don’t feel like arguing with you tonight.” 

“What about the dream?”

My eyes went wide as I stared blankly at Henry from across my room. “Don’t.” I growled. “You said we weren’t going to ever bring those up again.” 

“If everything is going so well with Jack, then why did you and I have almost identical dreams about kissing each other? In the same week, Charlotte!” Henry’s eyes bore into mine, the intensity of his glare making me turn away.

“Dreams are weird,” I mumbled. I sat back down, but suddenly, something bubbled up inside of me. Why was he doing this now, when I was happy? “This is so like you. To start bringing up stuff like this as soon as I have a boyfriend. I always supported you with all of your ‘relationships’. Only Henry Hart gets to be in love, huh?” I had my hands balled into fists, the rage building at how unfair he was being.

Henry sighed and rubbed his hands across his face. “You really care about this guy.” Him and I sat in silence for maybe a minute or two, but it felt like hours. “Why don’t you let Jasper and I do something special for you and Jack?”

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. 

“Seriously. Hey, we could set up a cool secret restaurant in the Man Cave! Jack Swagger will be so impressed. And, I’ll prove to you that you can tell me anything.” Henry smirked. Obviously he was proud of his little idea.

“Okay, I guess that’d be cool. Next time Jack is in town we can do your secret restaurant thing. Make sure you run it by Ray though!” 

Henry jumped up from my bed to hug me. I hugged back; I was honestly just happy he wasn’t mad at me anymore. That did not feel right.

“Now,” Henry pulled away from me to pick his textbook back up. “Can you help me? Please?”

I groaned, but of course I was going to help him. “I’m exhausted!”

“I have to answer all of these homework questions by tomorrow, come on Char!”  
-  
“I can’t believe you felt like you couldn’t tell us,” Jasper whined. Him and Henry were bustling around the Man Cave setting up the ‘restaurant’ while Ray and Schwoz were picking out their chef outfits. I tried to resist rolling my eyes - the only reason I held back was that I was already on the hot seat with Jasper and Henry. 

“Look, telling you guys is basically the same as telling Ray, and once he’s involved things tend to get a bit out of hand,” I explained to them. I tried my best to communicate the way I felt to them, while also sugarcoating it to protect Ray’s fragile little man feelings.

And right on cue, Ray walked out in his cartoonishly styled chef outfit, incredulous at what I had said. “Hey, I heard that! Charlotte, this is going to be the best dang dinner of your little boyfriend’s life.” He held out his fist for Henry and Jasper to bump it, then leaned against the stove they had set up in what he obviously thought was a chef pose. 

Then Schwoz joined us, actually...looking pretty cool. Like a real chef. “Nice, Schwoz. Loving what you’ve put together.” I winked at him, knowing he’d appreciate the praise. He had on a nice t-shirt that showed his awesome tattoos, and an apron.

“That’s not how real chefs dress!” Ray complained. He started up an argument with Schwoz. I took the opportunity to pull Henry and Jasper aside so that we could talk. Piper made her entrance into the cave before I said anything to them, outfitted in a fancy dress and holding on tight to her phone. Like always.

“Hey, Piper.” I grinned at her; I had genuinely come to enjoy her presence, and it was great to have a female friend to confide in. A part of me, however, definitely had a feeling she was not going to be able to keep it a secret that I was dating a celebrity.

“Charlotte! Where’s Jack Swagger? Is he on his way?” Piper rushed the words out, already overexcited. “People, people, let’s get this restaurant ready to go!” She clapped with each syllable in Henry and Jasper’s direction.

I could tell the boys were starting to get irritated. Yikes. I hadn’t even brought Jack over here yet! “Guys, I don’t get a lot of time to be with Jack. Can we please not turn this into a fiasco? Please?” 

Jasper slung an arm around my shoulders, and pulled me into his side. “Charlotte, tonight will be fantastic! Don’t worry.” 

“I can’t believe you already think this will end badly,” Henry chimed in. 

“Well, for one, Ray and Schwoz are already fighting.” I quipped, nodding my head in the direction of the two men that weren’t even paying attention to the food they were preparing.

“Just go get Jack and come back here, everything will be fine,” Henry replied. He started to shoo me to the elevator. “This will be a night you’ll never forget.”  
-  
“So, this is the top secret restaurant,” I said to Jack, giving my best jazz hands as I gestured around the cave. 

“Nice! I can’t believe I didn’t know this place existed…” Jack trailed off. I decided not to lead him further down that path; there were already enough things that I couldn’t give Jack an explanation for. In the middle of the cave Henry had set up multiple tables, but there was one in the center with flowers and a special fancy table cloth. “I’m guessing that table in the middle is ours,” I told Jack. We linked our hands together and walked over to sit down there. As soon as we sat, Henry bolted straight to us with a notepad and a pen in his hands.

“What a lovely young couple!” He winked at me and I, again, resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “May I interest you both in today’s special?”

I frowned. A special? This isn't even a real restaurant! “No, thank you. I would like to order the tomato soup.” That was what Jasper had told me to order earlier. There was no telling what Jack would ask for, though. 

“I’ll have the same thing,” Jack said. 

Well, that was simple.

“Fantastic! Anything to drink?” Henry scribbled something down in his notepad. He was pretending like he was copying down our orders, but I know Henry - it was just something random.

“Water is fine.” I said quickly. The faster we wrapped this up without a disaster, the better. 

Jack nodded in agreement with me, telling Henry water was fine for him, too. 

“Okay, I’ll be back with two waters very soon,” Henry assured us. He hurried off to the fake kitchen. Piper was towards the back of the cave, playing piano to add to the atmosphere - that’s how Jasper had explained it, anyway. 

“Did you notice how many times that waiter winked at you?” Jack asked me. I blinked, surprised at 1) what he had said, and 2) that he had interrupted my mental dialogue. Why was that a question, anyway? Henry always winked at me. Jack had no idea we were friends, though or that Henry was just like that. 

“No…” I said quietly. I did not want Jack to think Henry, of all people, was trying to flirt with me. Maybe it would be good if I went back there and told Henry to dial back his...everything. “Hey, I’m going to go to the bathroom. Be back in a sec.” Jack waved me off as I wandered away. I went through one of the doors by where Piper was playing the piano, while she was also staring at Jack. 

I tapped her shoulder. “I’m going to see how the guys are doing. Let Jack exist peacefully while I’m gone.”

She smirked at me. “Sure. That is exactly what I will do.”

I sighed. I did not have time to worry about whatever plans Piper had up her sleeve. I weaved my way through until I reached the mock kitchen. Surprisingly, things were going smoothly. Schwoz, Ray, Jasper, and Henry were all working diligently. I guess I had worried too much about what they would get up to. I did notice, however, that something with Henry was not right. He seemed like he was going through the motions, but he wasn’t entirely present mentally. There was a light frown on his face while he filled up two glasses with water. When I walked in, all three of the guys turned to greet me, but Henry didn’t even acknowledge my presence. I joined him.

“Hey, Hen. Is everything alright?” I jokingly moved my hand up and down in front of his face. He sighed and took a moment before he replied to me.

“Why are you back here? Jack’s probably bored by himself,” he said, instead of answering my question.

“I wanted to check on you, and everyone else.” 

Henry set down the glasses and looked around the room, presumably to make sure no one was listening. “We can talk after your date. Now get back out there!” He laughed, but the usual mirth wasn’t there.

“Okay, well, see you out there,” I replied awkwardly.   
-  
Jack had to leave Swellview right after our dinner, so I went to hang out with Henry at his house later that night. 

“Ray took this picture of you guys,” Henry said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a polaroid of Jack and I while we were feeding each other spoonfuls of soup. “He was all worked up about seeing you in love.”

I laughed. That was so like Ray. I took the picture from Henry and slid it into my back pocket. We were sitting around in his room; both of us were tired from all of the activity we had tonight. “So what did you need to talk about?”

Henry got silent after that. I was really getting sick of him being all mysterious. “I…” He collected himself. “I don’t want what I’m going to say to make things weird.”

“And it won’t,” I answered. “Nothing could.”

“Great,” Henry grunted. He sat up straighter and made sure that he was looking at me directly. “I realized something. About you and I.”

“And that is?”

“You’re everything to me,” Henry blurted out. That was not what I was prepared for him to say. “You...you got me the job at Junk ‘N Stuff. Before anyone else, you figured out that I was Kid Danger. From the beginning, you were beside me as my life changed. You’re like...part of my family.”

“Henry-” I tried to interrupt, but he barreled on.

“My parents and my sister love you. I mean, we even decorate the tree together on Christmas. We’re always together, whether it’s work or school or just hanging out. I doubt I’d still have decent grades if you weren’t always helping me. And, I can’t even remember how we became friends, it’s been so long.” Henry finally paused. He was looking everywhere but at me. “The point is, Charlotte, I could never live without you. I need you to know that. You’re more than a best friend to me.” 

For once in my life, I was speechless. What had brought this on? ‘More than just a friend?’ Did Henry mean that romantically, or did he only want me to understand how much I meant to him? I knew that I held the power in this conversation. Whatever my response was would dictate how the rest of the night would progress. It felt like we had entered into some kind of new, strange territory with each other.

I took a deep breath. “Thanks, Hen. Being best friends with you changed my life.” I tapped his shoulder in an attempt to lighten the mood a little. “I’m always going to be a part of Kid Danger’s - and Henry Hart’s - team.” I decided the best course of action was to move on from the heaviness of what Henry had told me, for the sake of normalcy, our friendship, and our work. He surely could not have meant all of that in a romantic way. There was just no way; I couldn’t go down that road with him. 

Henry ran a hand through his hair, trying his best to smile but not quite succeeding. “Right, right…” He said beneath his breath. It was as if he was giving his best efforts to regain his composure. It wasn’t working. What in the world was happening to us?

“I should probably get back to my house. Jack’s going to call me early in the morning when his plane lands,” I said pointedly. I got up and went to Henry’s door.

“Bye, Char.”

I closed Henry’s bedroom door behind me, and said goodbye to his parents before I ventured outside. The cold nighttime air hit my exposed skin, and I shivered a bit. I began the short walk to my house while I replayed all of things Henry had said while pouring out his heart to me in my head. You’re everything to me. 

I thought back to my dream, the one I had about kissing Henry. I thought about the way he talked me down from my hysteria when I almost let myself get maimed by a lion just because I got scared over a dream. Then, when he had called me only a few nights later and admitted that he had similar dreams about me after the lion incident. I thought about how inseparable we had been throughout our childhood, and how long it had been since he had an actual girlfriend. I even thought about something I never let myself consider...the inherent danger of Henry being Kid Danger, and the risk he put himself at everyday to protect people, along with the constraints his superhero-ing had put on the rest of his life. School, family, his personal life, all of that had been on the back burner for five years while he fought crime. 

Had glossing over the true meaning behind all of what Henry had said been the right thing to do? My gut told me it was, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of my head that it was a mistake. 

I continued walking, thinking about all of the ways my life had changed since I was 13, and all of the ways it hadn’t changed. You’re everything to me.

**Author's Note:**

> Cave the Date was definitely disappointing for me, especially since HD is winding down. I had to write this to make up for the writers dropping the ball with Charlotte as a character and Chenry as a thing in general. I haven't seen the full episode so I changed around a few things. hopefully you enjoyed it!


End file.
